Years of Looking
by Orange Summer Tangerines
Summary: It can't be...


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gakuen Alice.

Years of Looking

**xoxo**

Spring was almost over and summer will soon be knocking on every door.

The sky was painted with red orange, orange and indigo hues as night neared. The spring air was lingering in the air. The streets weren't that busy as of the moment while people were starting to go to their homes.

At a certain road, a seven-year-old boy who had messy raven hair and bored, emotionless crimson red eyes was walking all by himself with a bag pack hung on his back. He was heading his way home.

He turned to a corner and passed a deserted park. Unexpectedly, he stopped on his tracks when something on the cemented road caught his attention.

He could have ignored it, but his curiosity got the best of him so he approached it.

He bent down and picked it up. He studied it before raising a brow. Then, he stood up, looked at his surroundings and found no signs of anyone. He gazed at the picture once more and shoved it in his pants' pocket.

He gave a last scan of the park, still nothing and he walked away.

**17 years later…**

It was still seven in the morning but someone was already wide awake.

A twenty-four year old man was lying on his living room's couch. A manga was at his hand, though he wasn't reading it.

He was looking to something in it.

It was a picture that he had picked up back then. He never met the person in it.

However, he had long placed a stop on the years of looking.

He brought himself up and stuck the picture in the mange again, like the usual. He placed it on the space beside him. He stood up and walked to the kitchen.

**Minutes later…**

Sound of light footsteps resounded through the silent hall and it was getting louder as it neared its destination.

The kitchen.

"Hey, You've woken up early today…" A sleepy woman's voice came and she let out a yawn. She sat on the chair.

"Morning, sleepy head." The raven haired man greeted his wife, cocking his head over his shoulder to the woman's direction and saw her rubbing the sleepiness off from her hazel brows eyes.

"Good Morning, Natsume! "She cheerfully greeted, smiling warmly.

Natsume sent her a small smile, and then he turned his head to his almost finished dish.

"Go to the dining table. I'm done here." He stated.

She grinned, traced of her sleepiness had long left her, "Sure!"

**xoxo**

Natsume placed the plates that had their breakfast on the dining table. He pulled a chair and sat.

"Ne, I was actually woken up by the aroma the food." Mikan admitted, smiling.

"You're such a pig." He smirked.

She closed one eye, playfully sticking her tongue out, "I don't really care."

He rolled his eyes.

"Itadakimasu!" She finally announced.

He looked at his wife as she ate her breakfast. A small satisfied smile ran on his thin lips.

He was unable to find the girl from the picture, but he had her. The girl of his dreams and he had that declaration in a late time. A good start didn't occur on their first meeting. It was a disaster.

Well, they interaction wasn't the usual. They were like cats and dogs. They opposed on each other opinion and each hated the other guts.

She was a nuisance. A stubborn idiot. A hardcore childish idiot that even though they had reached their senior year, she still had those child-referenced undergarments. She always had that stupid smile whatever the situation was. She was extremely dense… but maybe those traits of her that he hated were the things that drew him to her.

She was different.

Natsume slightly shook his head, dismissing his thought about the girl from the picture that suddenly popped in his head. Then, he started to eat his breakfast.

On the other hand, Mikan was aware that her husband placed out. He rarely does that. She was about to ask if there was something wrong, but he returned to earth that she chose to keep it and continued to fill herself up.

**xoxo**

"Hey, Natsume," She called out, sitting on the living room's couch.

"Hn?" Was his questioning reply as he entered the room and saw her picking up something from the seat.

"Can I borrow this one?" She asked, showing the manga that was in her hand.

He shrugged, "Sure." He gave her the permission. He was about to go their room, but he halted, remembering something.

The picture.

"On the contrary—"He turned around, causing for him to cut his sentence.

She was looking at the picture.

"…where did you get this?" Her tone was laced with confusion. She waved the picture up in mid-air.

"Does it bother you?" He asked, stoically. He earned nothing in return since she gazed at the picture. She grew silent, eyebrows arching down and forehead creasing.

Natsume mentally readied himself if ever she would be ranting and the usual span of that is incredibly long.

He blinked. Nothing came. Weird.

Curious, he decided to approach her. He sat next to her, waiting for her reactions. It were amusing, if she won't be too noisy.

Mikan faced him.

"Where did you get this from?" She demanded, sounding like a little girl.

He shrugged, looking away, "Somewhere, why?"

Hazel brown eyes pouted.

An idea came to his mind, "Why Polka? Do you know her?"

"Uhh… it's…" She trailed off, giving a hard gaze to the picture.

Having his attention fully-attracted, he turned his head back to her. She knew the girl.

She gazed at him, "Where did you get this?" She insisted.

He sighed. She just loves to get things on her way. "At a park when I was seven." He answered, earning a nod from her.

Mikan sighed a short sigh, "I thought I won't be able to see this picture again…" She said, smiling relievingly.

Disbelief was then displayed on his crimson red eyes.

_She can't be…_

Sensing the way his eyes were darted to her, she looked at him, holding the picture closer to her face. An offended look etched on her beautiful face, "Oi, don't give me that look. Don't you see the resemblance?"

She winked, smiling, "This shot was taken before we moved to Tokyo." She informed.

He blinked. _She… she was just beside me after all._

The girl in the picture was his first love that he thought he won't ever met.

**xoxo**

**A/n: ** I planned on making this an open-ended story and I don't think I made a good work.. ^ ^ ;;

This would be my Christmas gift to all my readers. Merry Christmas minna ! ^o^-

I have red this as a message from a friend of mine so an idea came to my mind and thought this would suit my favorite pairing. I did made some changes though, but I hope you liked it^^

Please review and let me know what you think, ne^^


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